Force of Five – DVD Review

Distributor: Cine Asia

UK Release Date:  5th July 2010

Format: DVD, Blu-ray

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 110 Minutes

RRP: £17.99 (DVD), £24.99 (Blu-ray)

Director: Krissanapong Rachata

Starring: Nantawooti Boonrapsap, Pimchanok Leuwisetpaiboon, Richard William Lord, Johnny Nguyen, Sasisa Jimdamanee

Special Features:

• Interview Gallery
• Making Of
• Behind The Scenes
• Original Trailer

Every once in a while an asian film comes along that you find out was filmed recently but you figure the people behind it recently watched Die Hard and some other films from the 90s and thought that those were the western movies of today.

Welcome to Force of Five, filmed in 2009 and with a style that will take you back.

Meet the kids of a Muay Tai school, living under its roof they live by it’s teachings. Unfortunately one of the kids has a heart condition and when a heart becomes available for transplant, the hospital that is in possession of the new heart is taken hostage by a terrorist group and the kids in order to save their little brother, take on the big men with guns in a race against time….

Now, once you get past the first 25 minutes, the film actually becomes entertaining, I was banging my head against the wall until the hospital was taken by the terrorists. That’s when things REALLY kick off (See what I did there? Martial arts flick… kick off? Well I found it funny!)

You’d be forgiven for thinking this could pass as the Thai version of 3 Ninjas, the American film from the 90s that featured three brothers using their kung fu and comedic quirky stylings to get the job done.

That’s exactly what this film does with a lil bit of wannabe Die hard (Lite) thrown in for good measure.  It’ll take you back and the kids in this film are choreographed to the hilt, it’s tight, it’s precise and if you make it through that cumbersome 25 minutes of character building and pass the threshold into the action, you won’t be sorry.

Pick it up if you’re at a loss but if you’re not, it’ll still be there waiting for you when you eventually pass it one day in the shop and you’ll think of me!

Think of me…. Rawrl!!!